CalmSeasQuest's 12G Long Iwagumi

My Journey From Reef to Planted...

For the better part of the past twenty years, I've kept reef tanks, mostly SPS. As did many, I got my start in aquaria with freshwater tanks. In my case it was 55 gallon tanks with Oscars and Jack Dempsys in my bedroom some 40 years ago. While I was certainly aware of planted tanks, I never really paid much attention, that is until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across Takashi Amano's builds at the Sumido Aquarium in Tokyo. These were different. While I knew they were an incredible and complex undertaking, they instilled a calmness and serenity that I found irresistible. I truly love my reef tanks, but I HAD to try this.

I have a few Mr. Aqua 12 longs and stands on hand that I had purchased for other reef builds that I imagined would provide nice proportions for an Iwagumi -style build, so I started my research which inevitable led me to TPT and many others 12 long builds. Enough of the backstory - here's the beginning...

This will be a peninsular build visible from 3 sides using the Mr. Aqua Elm stand stained ebony (just a hint of grain) and finished with Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane - Satin. All equipment will be hidden in the stand with only the clear drain, return, top off and CO2 lines visible.

Controller - I have an Apex Aquacontroller managing two reef tanks in the room where this build will reside that can also manage/monitor this tank, I can easily add a temp probe (heater failsafe), pH probe (CO2 failsafe) and perhaps ORP if I can deduce some usage in freshwater IF I can figure out a way to hide them without having a sump. It will also manage lighting sunrise/sunset and Lunar cycles.

Test Kit - API

Water - Well water with 0TDS RO/DI available if needed

I have the tank, stand (waiting to be finished and assembled) CO2 tank regulator, Eheim 2215 and controller - The rest is being ordered with the ADA components coming from ADG. Due to my lack of planted experience, I decided to largely use ADA recommended equipment, supplies and dosing regimes understanding that while it surely could be done less expensively - it might help me avoid "nooby" mistakes.

I am slowly working my way through the tremendous differences and dichotomies between planted and reef and greatly appreciate any comments and/or advice on the overall plan and equipment chosen.

Thanks for following!

__________________

-Tom

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Are you going to DIY some leds? I just thought this up, but you could try two 16" finnex ray II leds.

If you did want to save some easy bucks you could purchase dry ferts. Buy a set of measuring spoons and you can dose on the cheap.

Thanks!
I like the Ray IIs, except for having to rig a way to use 2 X 16". I've also been watching Interzoo to see if there's anything relevant coming. Lots of new pendant offerings too. I've got AIs. ReefBrite and Maxspect LEDs on hand, but none in the FW spectrum. I'll get something figured out by the time all this comes together

__________________

-Tom

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Thanks!
I like the Ray IIs, except for having to rig a way to use 2 X 16". I've also been watching Interzoo to see if there's anything relevant coming. Lots of new pendant offerings too. I've got AIs. ReefBrite and Maxspect LEDs on hand, but none in the FW spectrum. I'll get something figured out by the time all this comes together

While I like the minimalist style, the fit and finish are lacking. The stand requires a lot of filling and sanding prior to finishing to come anywhere near furniture grade. There are many finger joints visible hence my use of ebony stain....

Still, I think it will work well for my installation once "tweaked" a bit.

I'm hoping to finalize the equipment today and get things ordered. Frank at ADG indicated most of the ADA items currently out of stock should be arriving this Friday.

I'm still struggling to find a way (other than drilling the tank and adding a sump or adding a HOB filter) to use my controller and still be able to hide all probes. The temp probe could be hidden in the substrate(although the wire would still show.) There's really no way to completely hide the pH and ORP probes with my intended minimalist design. Although obviously they are not needed, it just seems a shame not to to utilize them as the controller sits within a few feet of the tank.

Another thought - I was among a few that pioneered the use of high power lasers for controlling marine pests and algae. I'll be curious to learn if there are any potential applications in planted tanks. I'm new to TPT and am not sure of the rules regarding outside links. If you want to learn more or see videos of the lasers in use, just Google "Use of Lasers in Controlling Pest Algae and Corals"

__________________

-Tom

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Based on the PAR data contained in samamorgan's LED PAR thread, a single unit at 23W should provide ~75 PAR. I expect the actual PAR numbers to be slightly higher than reported as the PAR measurements used were from tests conducted by AquaNerd using the marine version of the light. The Apogee MQ-200 PAR meter underestimates PAR when measuring very blue light by up to ~20%. I'll share PAR data once set up.

This should provide enough PAR and a very small footprint resulting in minimum distraction. The only think it doesn't provide is moonlighting, but that can be addressed separately.

__________________

-Tom

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Lights and a few other components came in today. I heard from Frank that the ADA order will ship Monday or Tuesday. I've got an idea on how to tie in my Apex and probes in a manner that won't visually impact the tank (I'll tinker with it this weekend to see if it's viable.)

And in a rare moment of clarity, I'm wondering what I thought I was going to do with a 200 watt heater on a 12 gallon tank Into the cabinet full of unused/un-needed parts it goes.

My hope is to get the finish work done on the stand and get the tank and lights set up this weekend.

__________________

-Tom

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Planted Tank Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.